Thoughts and Prayers Will Stop Mass Shooting 'Evil,' Says Florida State Senator
AR-15 rifles with colored hand guards are displayed for sale at the Guntoberfest gun show in Oaks, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 6, 2017. Joshua Roberts/Reuters
A Florida state senator said that “thoughts and prayers” are the only thing that will stop mass shootings, before the legislature voted down part of a bill to ban assault weapons in the wake of last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school.
While there's actually no law requiring a high degree of sheer stupidity a requirement for being elected to public office, its becoming more and more obvious that it sure does help! 
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A Florida state senator said that “thoughts and prayers” are the only thing that will stop mass shootings, before the legislature voted down part of a bill to ban assault weapons in the wake of last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school.
This guy must be a L ouis Gohmert wannabee.
If thoughts and prayers stop shootings then why does the Pope ride around in an armored box that makes him look like a human Tic-Tac?
Its really quite simple: they got the prayers...but they're lacking a lot in the way of thoughts!
Do you think wearing a copper bracelet might help?
It would-- but only if its very thick and large enough to enclose your entire body! (With teeny-tiny holes for breathing).
Well, then I guess wearing a sprig of garlic won't help.
Traditionally, of course Garlic doesn't protect against mass shooters-- only against vampires and other blood-sucking politicians (maybe we ought to try it against some of our politicians...heheheh
But ya never know.
Maybe driving a silver stake through their hearts might do the job?
OTOH, all this might not be necessary-- all we might need is Donald Trump (totally unarmed) to rush into the building to save the day!
Donald Trump on Florida school shooting: 'I'd run in even if I didn't have a weapon'
(Relevant comments start at about 0:46 into the video)
Bracelets seem to work for Wonder Woman. But then she's a goddess, so maybe there are some prayers involved, too?
Let's not forget her lasso of truth.
If it works on Aquaman, surely no measly teenager stands a chance.
Lucky Aquaman. And here I thought he only hung out with fish. LOL
The copper has nothing to do with the healing part. The COMPRESSION is what helps. The copper is just the, "snake oil", if you will.
The public would be better served if thoughts and prayers were held in reserve and legislators actually did their jobs. Thoughts and prayers do not a flak jacket make.
Mark Twain said it best.
“Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.”
And that's why I'm not voting for any incumbent in November. Except maybe the governor, who is a Republican, but that's because I really do think he's doing a good job in Arkansas
That could be why the last Presidential election went the way it did as well.
Which candidate was the incumbent?
The only way I can see prayers working is if an individual does have some medical disease or illness, and if that individual's praying triggers some increase in his/her body's immunity system or some other system that produces an antibody to fight the medical problem - but someone else praying for the sick individual isn't going to do it. So I've always wondered why people even say or write to those who are ill, "My prayers are with you" unless that causes the ill person to create a mental process that does as I've said above - but who knows? I don't. I suppose a person who says "My prayers are with you" feels somewhat better for having said it, either if they feel they are accomplishing something for the ill person, or think that they themselves will be thought of more highly for haviing anyone know they said it (which is a selfish emotion), like for example the Senator in the article. Saying "My thoughts and prayers are with you" to a grieving person COULD cause a grieving person to feel somewhat better knowing that others may be sharing their grief, although in some cases, as in the case of the Senator, I think it's probably for selfish reasons, although perhaps I'm being a bit too cynical.
Again, when dead kids can buy campaign ads things will change.
Editor's Note: This story was originally published in October and has been republished with updates in the wake of the shooting Sunday in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Barely a month after the massacre in Las Vegas, another horrific attack has underscored the persistence of gun violence in the United States. At least 26 people are dead after the shooting this Sunday at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
If the mounting death toll has you thinking that attacks like this seem to be more frequent in the United States than in other rich nations, you're right. Statistics on the rates of gun violence unrelated to conflict underscore just how outsize U.S. rates of gun deaths are compared with those in much of the rest of the world.
Take countries with the top indicators of socioeconomic success — income per person and average education level, for instance. The United States ranks ninth in the world among them, bested only by the likes of Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Iceland, Andorra, Canada and Finland.
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Those countries all also enjoy low rates of gun violence, but the U.S. has the 31st highest rate in the world: 3.85 deaths due to gun violence per 100,000 people in 2016. That was eight times higher than the rate in Canada, which had 0.48 deaths per 100,000 people — and 27 times higher than the one in Denmark, which had 0.14 deaths per 100,000.
The numbers come from a massive database maintained by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation , which tracks lives lost in every country, in every year, by every possible cause of death. The figures for 2016 were released this fall. As in previous years, the data paint a fairly rosy picture for much of the world, with deaths due to gun violence rare even in many countries that are extremely poor — such as Bangladesh and Laos, which saw 0.16 deaths and 0.13 deaths respectively per 100,000 people.
Prosperous Asian countries such as Singapore and Japan boast the absolute lowest rates, though the United Kingdom and Germany are in almost as good shape.
"It is a little surprising that a country like ours should have this level of gun violence," says Ali Mokdad , a professor of global health and epidemiology at the IHME. "If you compare us to other well-off countries, we really stand out."
To be sure, there are quite a few countries where gun violence is a substantially larger problem than in the United States — particularly in Central America and the Caribbean. Mokdad says a major driver is the large presence of gangs and drug trafficking. "The gangs and drug traffickers fight amongst themselves to get more territory, and they fight the police," says Mokdad. And citizens who are not involved are often caught in the crossfire.
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Mokdad said drug trafficking may also be a driving factor in two Asian countries that have unusually large rates of violent gun deaths for their region: the Philippines and Thailand.
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With the casualties due to armed conflicts factored out, even in conflict-ridden regions such as the Middle East, the U.S. rate is worse than in all but one country: Iraq.
The U.S. gun violence death rate is also higher than nearly all countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including many that are among the world's poorest.
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One more way to consider this data: The IHME also estimates what it would expect a country's rate of gun violence deaths to be based solely on its socioeconomic status. By that measure, the U.S. should only be seeing 0.79 deaths per 100,000 people — almost five times less than its actual rate of 3.85 deaths per 100,000.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the expected U.S. rate of deaths per 100,000 people by gun violence was almost four times less than its actual rate. It is almost five times less.
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And all we have to do is pray...
Speaking of Floriduh.....
Since school shootings are now a fact of life, thoughts and prayers can be the security provided at teavangelical schools.